Is the new 24 twelve-episode mini-series going to be more like seasons 1-2 of 24 (good) or seasons 3-8 of 24 (not-so-good)? Dunno. Nice to see this first trailer, though there’s not much here to get me excited, just yet:

We also, at last, have our first glimpse at the long-in-the-works Sin City sequel. The trailer is good but not great. Here too, I need a little more to really get me excited. I desperately want this movie to be good, but I think the time for a sequel may have passed. Crossing my fingers on this one.

So, they’re really truly going ahead with Ghostbusters 3? Without the participation of Bill Murray? With Harold Ramis having just recently passed away? With Ivan Reitman now saying he WON’T return to direct the film? You know, for years and years I wanted this movie to happen, despite the huge risk that, so many years later, it’d be impossible to recapture the alchemy and make a film that was any good. But now I’ve really soured on the whole idea. Is it in any way conceivable that a Ghostbusters 3 could be any good? Not to me. This lengthy interview with Ivan Reitman is a fascinating look at the process behind this eons-in-development sequel, but I just think it’s a totally misguided notion.

This article is a fascinating look back on oscar campaign for The Lord of the Rings that wound up with The Return of the King dominating the 2003 awards. This is inside baseball, but I found it interesting.

Last month, when I posted my review of the second episode of the fan-made Star Trek series, Star Trek Continues, I noted that in an incredible confluence, both that series and the longer-running Trek fan series Star Trek: Phase II were both releasing new episodes in the very same week. That was incredibly exciting but, sadly, too good to be true, as Phase II missed their planned Feb 14th release date for their latest episode, “The Holiest Thing,” and they still have not announced an updated release date. Oh well. I remain an enormous fan of Phase II and am eager for their next episode, but boy they have missed a lot of announced release dates over the years. I think they need to stop announcing release dates until their episodes are 100% completed and ready to go. I do hope we don’t have to wait too much longer for “The Holiest Thing,” as it looks great.

Meanwhile, there is yet ANOTHER exciting fan-made Star Trek project a-brewing, and that is Star Trek: Axanar. This group has plans to create a feature-length re-telling of Captain Garth (from the classic Star Trek Original Series episode “Whom Gods Destroy”)’s battle with the Klingons in the years-long Federation-Klingon War (which occurred before the events of the Original Series). To test the waters, this group has launched a kickstarter — that has already been phenomenally successful — for a “Prelude to Axanar” short-film. They’ve assembled a pretty phenomenal array of professional talent, including Richard Hatch (from both the original and the modern Battlestar Galactica), Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh from the modern Battlestar Galactica), J.G. Hertzler (General Martok from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and Gary Graham (who will be reprising his role as Vulcan Ambassador Soval from all four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise). This seems like a super-cool project, I am eager to see what they put together.

Here’s a trailer for John Oliver’s new show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. This will need to distinguish itself more strongly from The Daily Show to be successful, I think, but I really like John Oliver and am eager to see what he’s put together.